


Defining Love

by Pand3mic



Category: Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Adorable, Cheesy, Cute, Declarations Of Love, Demisexuality, F/M, Fluff, Love, Love Confessions, Pillow Talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 01:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6882673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pand3mic/pseuds/Pand3mic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walter O'Brien doesn't believe in love. Or maybe he just doesn't understand it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defining Love

The loft was silent except for the soft sound of her own breathing. If it weren't for the rise and fall of Walter's chest underneath her head, she might have wondered if he was even still alive, quiet and unmoving as he was. She couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not- after the night they'd had, she wouldn't blame him for wanting some rest- but she couldn't bring herself to turn off her thoughts just yet. Instead she lay awake, relishing in the feeling of his hot skin pressed against hers and his arms wrapped around her naked torso beneath the duvet.

She and Walter had been together for several months now after finally throwing caution to the wind and allowing themselves to have feelings for one another. Saying they would jeopardize Scorpion by getting involved with each other had been a poor excuse to begin with; she knew that now. She didn't know why she'd ever let herself believe it. Perhaps she'd been afraid. She trusted Walter, but part of her was so scared of losing him, and his reckless actions when she'd tried to leave for Portland made her worry even more than she already did. That had been a long time ago... but who's to say it couldn't happen again?

"Paige?" The husky sound of Walter's voice jolted her from her train of thought and she tilted her head to peer up at him, her brown eyes dilating to make out the contours of his face in the darkness that shrouded them.

She reached up with one hand- the hand that had been previously resting over Walter's exposed chest- to rub her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Define _love_." The question caught her off guard and she found herself squinting at him, confused, for a long moment as she tried to understand just what he was asking her. She knew his stance on love; she disagreed with it, but she knew. He didn't think it existed. He acknowledged that he harbored strong, indescribable feelings for her, yes, but he believed that the very concept of "love" went against human nature. So she'd never pushed him to tell her he loved her, and he'd never complained whenever she told him she loved him. It was their own little unspoken compromise.

She answered him after another minute of thought. "Love... is hard to explain." Another pause came as she tried to do the concept justice, to explain it as _she_ experienced it. But defining love was, well, easier requested than done. "It's when you... you care so much about someone that you'd do anything for them- to make them happy- no matter what it costs you. It's... learning the little things about a person and enjoying them. Like how I know Ralph's favorite kind of ice cream... and I know your little quirks, too." She couldn't help but smile as she said that, because it was true. She had picked up on so many of Walter's little habits and rituals over the time that they'd known each other, and she loved those things about him. They were what made him _Walter_ just as much as his past, his IQ, and everything else.

A few minutes of silence stretched between them and for a while, she thought he might have fallen back asleep. Then, his voice broke the silence one last time. "I love you, Paige."

Her cheeks flushed red in the darkness but her smile widened. Placing a chaste kiss on the base of his left collarbone, she whispered back just loud enough for him to hear, "I love you, too, Walter."


End file.
